Magic in His Kiss by Shari Anton Page B

Should we not hurry?”
    He feared they’d stopped too long for speed to do them any good. Surely by now the castle garrison had altered the guards at the city gates, which might explain why no patrol had come down the lane. The soldiers would ensure the outer gates secured before beginning a search in the town.
    Still, he set a quick pace, winding through the unfamiliar, narrow lanes. Both he and Nicole breathed rapidly before he stopped within sight of North Gate. As he’d feared, the guards were many and halting everyone who wished to pass through, going so far as to search the carts.
    Were he alone, he’d push through the crowd and take his chances with the guards. But he wasn’t alone, and he wasn’t about to risk either Nicole’s safety or chance them being parted.
    “I fear we must abide for a time,” he told Nicole, glancing around for suitable shelter. Hell, any unoccupied building would do for the nonce while he came up with a less risky plan to escape Oxford.
    “When King Stephen burned the city several years ago,” she said, “the area around St. Ebbe’s suffered the worst damage. Recent flooding has taken a toll, too. Most of the buildings left standing are in ruins and for the most part abandoned. We might find a place there to hide.”
    Nicole seemed so reasonable now, when only a short time ago she’d been speaking nonsense. Perhaps her ailment wasn’t permanent. Maybe he hadn’t done her irreparable harm. A few hours’ rest might do her good.
    Besides, they truly had no choice but to hide if they were to avoid capture. Since he didn’t have the vaguest notion of St. Ebbe’s location, once again he must trust Nicole to take the lead.
    With too many misgivings to contemplate, he reluctantly said, “Lead on, my lady.”

Chapter Six
    S heltered in a burned-out, abandoned building in an almost equally deserted area of Oxford, Nicole used a stick to draw a large oval in the dirt floor—a rough map of the high, thick stone walls that fortified the town.
    “’Tis simple, really.” She drew an X with a circle around it on the far west end. “This is the castle. The town has two main roads. One runs through the middle of town from the castle to the east gate. The other cuts the town in half north and south. At the end of those streets are the larger, most-used gates. The smaller gates are here.”
    Nicole drew several more X’s, one of them in the southwest corner of Oxford, not far from where she and Rhodri took shelter.
    “The bridges?” he asked.
    Outside of the town’s walls, she drew a long, winding line—the river Thames—and marked, to the best of her memory, the bridges’ locations.
    She glanced up at Rhodri, who loomed over where she’d hunched down, his arms crossed, frowning mightily.
    He’d been frowning since leaving the cobbler’s shop. Understandable, she supposed. She’d cost them time, and Rhodri certainly didn’t approve of what she’d done. Nor did he understand why she’d done it.
    She should probably explain the importance of her errand on Thomas’s behalf, but first they must decide how to get beyond the city gates. If they didn’t escape Oxford, naught else mattered.
    “Will they set guards on the bridges?” she asked.
    “Not likely. They will hope to catch us at one of the gates. Once the gates close for the night, they may begin searching the town.”
    Nightfall wouldn’t come for several hours yet. The small building Rhodri had chosen as a hiding place, with its gaping holes in the walls and blackened support beams, probably wouldn’t fall down in the next few hours. Still, she would prefer not to remain in this part of town any longer than she must.
    Among the charred and rotting shells of former dwellings lurked many of the town’s disreputable folk, the beggars and brigands who would as soon rob you of your boots than earn an honest wage to pay for them.
    Nicole dropped the stick in the dirt before rising and dusting her hands together. “Which